Saoudata Maiga

Professor Humphereys

History 1700

04/14/2017

History Oral Interview Paper

For this class project, I had the privilege of interviewing Robert Lofgren (Bob).

Robert was a great depression survivor, a railroad worker, and a U.S Navy veteran. He

said the Depression changed us in many ways, by us he means him and his family. At

the depth of the Depression, he faced the realities of being poor. One winter, he said he

was given a pair of shoes by Maurine Clifton, a daughter of a railroad friend. He hated

to wear them, but did so out of necessity. His sister Edna, in Dalhart, sometimes

brought them new clothes.

According to Bob, they got few new clothes and they ate more bulk food such as

beans, corn meal and wheat flour. They were never without food, though. In fact, he

would sometimes bring home railroad men who were wandering through the country

looking for work. They would feed them, let them clean up, and sometimes his wife

would cut their hair. As she always cut his own hair, and their childrens. She used

clippers that were either hot or cold and pulled out the hair. They got help from the

railroad he was working at. They would give their employees who were cut off baskets

of food that included dried milk and dried beans.

 His family did a lot of different things to make money. They would go house-to-

house selling homemade donuts or popcorn balls. His wife did washing and ironing for

school teachers and others that still had jobs. She also did the laundry for Mr. and Mrs.

Hall to pay for their childrens music lessons. Mary learned to play the piano, Bill learned

to play the trombone and Karen painfully struggled to learn to play the baritone. They

did play for a while in the Buchanan Street School Orchestra. They wore white pants

and white shirts and wore a little cape that was green on one side and white on the

other, made by their mother.

About the time the dust storms of the dustbowl were coming to an end, President

Franklin D. Roosevelt came to Amarillo to guarantee recovery. As Texans are prone to

do, Amarillo turned out the worlds largest marching band for the President. They called

for volunteers from all over the Panhandle of Texas. There were hundreds of people

who came and made a long parade down Polk Street. He can proudly state that one of

their children played in a band for President Roosevelt. They marched to Elwood Park

where the President spoke. Bob remembers how surprised his daughter was to see how

badly crippled the President was. He had large leg braces and seemed paralyzed from

the waist down. But when he spoke, he held himself up and you would never know he

was crippled. Him and others felt he was the greatest President of any time. These

memories returned to me on my birthday April 12, 1945, when while playing baseball at

Mercer University in Macon, Georgia, I learned that President Roosevelt had died a few

miles away at Warm Springs, Georgia. I was in the Navy then. He stated.
 He always wanted his own money, and when you think about the fact that many

others were during the Great Depression, it is easily understood. No one had money.

We were not shamed by poverty because everyone we knew was in the same boat.

He said: I will digress a little, to describe the Depression and what happened to a lot of

people.

You must understand that in 1929, there was no unemployment insurance, Social

Security did not exist, there was no bank deposit insurance and little or no public

welfare. Destitute older people were placed in county poor farms and these provided

minimal care.

He had been a successful railroad-man for years. He had high seniority as a

brakeman and fairly high seniority as a conductor. He worked sometimes on passenger

trains but really preferred freight trains. Railroad jobs were highly sought after and the

pay was comparatively high. Railroad people could get credit when others could not.

Meanwhile, back to the life during the depressionAs the stock market crashed, so did

most businesses. Railroads started cutting down the number of trains that ran. His

regular train was cut and he then went on the extra board, so he was only called to

work when someone above him in seniority couldnt or wouldnt work. Obviously, his

income dropped dramatically.

They had moved into a new house years before and had lived well. Suddenly,

with little or no income, they were in financial trouble. He remembers very clearly that

three men in dress suits came to tell them that they must move. He was devastated and

ashamed. For sure the tough times also made him very short-tempered and at times
mean. Before then he was never physically violent but he could be extremely sarcastic

and belittling. He dearly loved his wife but at times was verbally mean to her many

times. She would be crying, and moved on as she understood the tough times I was

going through, he stated. She was a very strong woman and gave their family strength.

She was extremely kind hearted and a peace maker.

This great depression survivor Bob Lofgren was crying one time because of all

the difficulties they encounter during that time. Speaking of crying, he said: his father

side of the family was known to have a physical abnormality. Their bladders were

thought to be up between their ears. Him and all of his sisters were very emotional.

They cried when they were emotionally touched in anyway. The Lofgrens from that

point of view tear up easily. On some occasions, the playing of the Star Spangled

Banner will do it. Oh well, as he said, it is a physical abnormality.

Knowing that the great depression of 1929-1939 was a severe economic

worldwide depression, and its timing varied across nations; in most countries, it started

in 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s. It was the longest, deepest, and most

widespread depression of the 20th century. In the 21st century, the Great Depression is

commonly used as an example of how far the world's economy can decline.

The depression originated in the United States, after a major fall in stock prices

that began around September 4, 1929, and became worldwide news with the stock

market crash of October 29, 1929 (known as Black Tuesday). Between 1929 and 1932,

worldwide GDP fell by an estimated 15%. By comparison, worldwide GDP fell by less

than 1% from 2008 to 2009 during the Great Recession. Some economies started to
recover by the mid-1930s. However, in many countries, the negative effects of the Great

Depression lasted until the beginning of World War II.

The Great Depression had devastating effects in both rich and poor countries, on

personal income, tax revenue, profits and prices dropped. While international trade

plunged by more than 50%. Unemployment in the United States rose to 25% and in

some other countries rose as high as 33%.

I learned a lot interviewing Bob Lofgren. His story of surviving the Great

Depression was very tough and interesting at the same time. After listening to him, and

reading about the statistics above, I somehow understand how losing his job, and house

turned him into a violent and aggressive person. I am so glad that was temporary, and

that he and his family made it through those tough times, and are now sharing stories

with others like myself.

In many ways Bobs life as someone who has lived through and participated to

three major historical events in U.S. history make him a true American hero. He lived

through the Great Depression. He also contributed to the development of the railroad.

Finally, Bob served in the U.S. Navy and took part to many major wars.